Popular caller ID app Truecaller has long left iPhone users at a disadvantage by not offering the caller information in real-time — a feature its Android users have enjoyed for some time. Today, that changes as the company is rolling out an update that brings real-time caller ID support to its iOS subscribers.
The company was able to implement the feature because Apple introduced Live Caller ID Lookup in iOS 18, allowing third-party caller ID apps to securely make a call to their server to get information about the caller. Notably, this is also the first major release from the Swedish company after the co-founders Alan Mamedi and Nami Zarringhalam stepped down from the day-to-day operations in November 2024.
Today, Truecaller has more than 2.6 million paying subscribers, of which only around 750,000 of them are on iOS. However, 40% of Truecaller’s revenue is from iOS subscriptions. The company also gets a 5X conversation rate to its premium tier on iOS compared to Android as well as 80% higher revenue from an iPhone subscriber.
Considering the importance of the iPhone to Truecaller’s bottom line, the company continues to develop its iOS app.
In 2022, Truecaller relaunched the iOS app to focus on better spam detection, thanks to Apple allowing the app to store a larger set of numbers locally.
“It did improve the overall call identification. But that wasn’t enough because in countries like India, there is a huge calling activity, and not all this would be available in the offline database,” Truecaller Product Director Nakul Kabra told TechCrunch in an interview.
India presents other challenges for the company, as well, including the arrival of a service, Calling Name Presentation (commonly called CNAP, designed to curb spam. The service, currently being rolled out by local telcos, could eventually emerge as a competitor to Truecaller.
Truecaller also updated its iOS app in 2023 with a live caller ID experience, but that involved a step requiring interaction with Siri and also wasn’t real-time.
Until iOS 18’s release, Truecaller had to rely on a locally saved dictionary of limited phone numbers on iOS.
To enable the new feature, Truecaller built a new server architecture and created a separate, encrypted database for iOS, alongside its existing larger database for Android users. Apple’s Phone app makes encrypted requests to this database and gets encrypted responses that are only decrypted on the client (iPhone) to show the caller ID in real time. This process is called “homomorphic encryption,” as the computations use encrypted data instead of decrypting them first, while decryption happens on the client to display caller information if it matches with the data stored on the server.
Kabra told TechCrunch that Truecaller had built a way to sync two databases to keep the data synced between them.
“At the moment, there might be a bit of a delay because these requests get queued up, and the encryption that we do is very time-consuming — and very expensive… But it should not be more than a few hours,” he said.
TechCrunch tested live caller ID under Truecaller’s beta program last week and noticed that the feature does provide caller information in real-time in most cases, though it sometimes misses.
Truecaller’s premium tier on iOS starts at $9.99 a month, per individual, or $74.99/year. The company also offers its family plan on iOS starting at $14.99/month or $99.99/year and the top-end Gold subscription at $249 a year.
Users can enable the Live Caller ID Lookup feature through iPhone Settings > Apps > Phone > Call Blocking & Identification.
On iOS 18, Truecaller also updated its interface with the caller’s name appearing in bold over their number. Now, Truecaller is working on support for images to show up in the caller ID for its iOS users.
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Spotify is expanding its streaming service to now include educational courses in addition to music, podcasts, and audiobooks. The company on Tuesday referenced one of its newer features called courses, which allow users to learn about topics in areas like business, tech, lifestyle, music, and more.
The feature is initially being piloted in the U.K., Spotify notes. But further evidence indicates it may arrive soon in the U.S.
Tech enthusiast and early adopter Chris Messina spotted the development of courses in the U.S. Messina’s findings indicate there will be courses available on subjects that may appeal to the more technical crowd, like learning about AI, web3, the metaverse, and other digital tools.
In addition, he found that users would be able to filter their Spotify Library to show only “Podcasts & Courses,” instead of just “Podcasts,” as it reads currently.
While Spotify didn’t confirm that courses will arrive in the U.S., Messina discovered he was able to access the section via search.
Here, though, the category pages were empty, indicating the U.S. feature is still in development.
The company has been working to make its service known for more than just music for some time. By offering different types of audio, Spotify can grow its revenue through different forms of monetization. This includes ads in audio and video podcasts (even AI ads), as well as paid “top up” hours for audiobooks aimed at subscribers who use up their 15 free hours per month but still want to keep listening. The company is also undercutting market leader Audible with a $10 per month standalone audiobooks subscription.
With courses, Spotify could generate more revenue by charging users for some of the programs it offers for streaming.
Spotify today pointed to a handful of courses it recommends getting started with, including:
Correction: Updated after publication to note that Courses began piloting in the U.K. last year, but new discoveries indicate they may be coming soon to the U.S.
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Meta is luring TikTok creators over to its platforms with the promise of cash bonuses, content deals, and support to grow their communities. The company announced on Tuesday that eligible TikTok creators will be able to earn “up to” $5,000 in bonuses over three months for posting Reels on Facebook and Instagram.
These creators will also get access to the Facebook Content Monetization program, which allows creators to earn money for their videos, photos, and text posts on Facebook. Additionally, Meta will offer some TikTok creators content deals to help grow their audiences on Instagram and Facebook.
Some TikTok creators will also get a one-year trial of Meta Verified, which includes a verified badge, account support, and impersonation protection. (The company did not share the criteria for whose will receive access).
While TikTok is back online in the U.S. after going dark for 12 hours over the weekend, the ByteDance-owned social network is still missing from app stores. Although President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to delay the TikTok ban deadline by 75 days and told the Department of Justice not to enforce the ban’s penalties, it’s unknown when (or if) the app will return to Apple and Google’s app stores.
Meta is clearly taking advantage of TikTok’s current troubles by poaching and attracting some of the service’s creators.
The company also said it’s rolling out changes to Reels to make the short-form video format more appealing to TikTok creators. For instance, U.S.-based Instagram creators can now publish Reels up to three minutes long, a notable increase from the previous 90-second limit. On TikTok, however, creators can record videos up to 10 minutes long, and in some cases, upload content up to an hour in length.
In addition, Meta is going to make Reels more prominent, as the company plans to recommend Reels in more places across Instagram in Facebook. For instance, people may start to see recommended Reels higher up in their home feed. Plus, they may see more reels in their search results.
To further court TikTok creators, Meta notes that it has optimized its ranking systems to allow newer creators to break through to new audiences.
Meta will also allow creators to show their Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube handles and follower counts in their Facebook profiles to boost their credibility on its platform.
Meta already made other changes to take advantage of TikTok’s current uncertainty in the U.S.
On Sunday, Meta revealed that it’s going to launch a Capcut-like app called Edits next month. On Friday, it introduced updates to make it easier for Instagram users to find Reels that their friends and followers are liking on the platform. The app will also encourage users to start conversations about Reels through a new “reply bar.”
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Meta announced on Tuesday that users will soon be able to add their WhatsApp account to their Accounts Center, a hub where users can manage connected experiences across their Facebook, Instagram, and Meta Quest accounts.
With this integration, users will be able to cross-post their WhatsApp Status as Stories on Instagram and Facebook, getting rid of the need to post multiple times. It will also allow users to log in to multiple apps with the same account through the “Single Sign On” feature, which is an authentication option that allows you to do things like use your Facebook account information to log into Instagram.
Adding your WhatsApp account to Accounts Center is optional and off by default.
Meta notes that your WhatsApp messages and calls will remain end-to-end encrypted if you choose to connect your WhatsApp account to the hub.
Accounts Center, which is found in the Settings section of Meta’s apps, was first introduced in 2020 as a way to give users the ability to manage their connected experiences across the company’s services.
Meta plans to roll out additional functionality to Accounts Center, such as the option to manage avatars, Meta AI stickers, and Imagine Me creations.
The company says it’s rolling out the WhatsApp integration globally, but that it will take months for it to make it available to every user. When the integration is available, you’ll see the option in your WhatsApp settings. You may also see the integration when you try to take action across accounts, such as re-posting your Status to one of Meta’s other apps.
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Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says that the company plans to release a “two-way” voice mode for its chatbot, Claude, as well as a memory feature that lets Claude remember more about users and past conversations.
Speaking to The Wall Street Journal at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Amodei also revealed that Anthropic expects to release “smarter” AI models in the coming months, and that the company has been “overwhelmed” by the “surge in demand” in the last year.
“The surge in demand we’ve seen over the last year, and particularly in the last three months, has overwhelmed our ability to provide the needed compute,” Amodei said.
Anthropic is racing to keep pace with its chief AI rival, OpenAI, in an extremely capital-intensive sector. Despite having raised $13.7 billion in capital to date, Anthropic reportedly lost billions of dollars last year. Anthropic is said to be in talks to raise another ~$2 billion at a $60 billion valuation.
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OpenAI may be close to releasing an AI tool that can take control of your PC and perform actions on your behalf.
Tibor Blaho, a software engineer with a reputation for accurately leaking upcoming AI products, claims to have uncovered evidence of OpenAI’s long-rumored Operator tool. Publications including Bloomberg have previously reported on Operator, which is said to be an “agentic” system capable of autonomously handling tasks like writing code and booking travel.
According to The Information, OpenAI is targeting January as Operator’s release month. Code uncovered by Blaho this weekend adds credence to that reporting.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT client for macOS has gained options, hidden for now, to define shortcuts to “Toggle Operator” and “Force Quit Operator,” per Blaho. And OpenAI has added references to Operator on its website, Blaho said — albeit references that aren’t yet publicly visible.
Confirmed – the ChatGPT macOS desktop app has hidden options to define shortcuts for the desktop launcher to “Toggle Operator” and “Force Quit Operator” https://t.co/rSFobi4iPN pic.twitter.com/j19YSlexAS
— Tibor Blaho (@btibor91) January 19, 2025
According to Blaho, OpenAI’s site also contains not-yet-public tables comparing the performance of Operator to other computer-using AI systems. The tables may well be placeholders. But if the numbers are accurate, they suggest that Operator isn’t 100% reliable, depending on the task.
OpenAI website already has references to Operator/OpenAI CUA (Computer Use Agent) – “Operator System Card Table”, “Operator Research Eval Table” and “Operator Refusal Rate Table”
Including comparison to Claude 3.5 Sonnet Computer use, Google Mariner, etc.
(preview of tables… pic.twitter.com/OOBgC3ddkU
— Tibor Blaho (@btibor91) January 20, 2025
On OSWorld, a benchmark that tries to mimic a real computer environment, “OpenAI Computer Use Agent (CUA)” — possibly the AI model powering Operator — scores 38.1%, ahead of Anthropic’s computer-controlling model but well short of the 72.4% humans score. OpenAI CUA surpases human performance on WebVoyager, which evaluates an AI’s ability to navigate and interact with websites. But the model falls short of human-level scores on another web-based benchmark, WebArena, according to the leaked benchmarks.
Operator also struggles with tasks a human could perform easily, if the leak is to be believed. In a test that tasked Operator with signing up with a cloud provider and launching a virtual machine, Operator was only successful 60% of the time. Tasked with creating a Bitcoin wallet, Operator succeeded only 10% of the time.
OpenAI’s imminent entry into the AI agent space comes as rivals including the aforementioned Anthropic, Google, and others make plays for the nascent segment. AI agents may be risky and speculative, but tech giants are already touting them as the next big thing in AI. According to analytics firm Markets and Markets, the market for AI agents could be worth $47.1 billion by 2030.
Agents today are rather primitive. But some experts have raised concerns about their safety, should the technology rapidly improve.
One of the leaked charts shows Operator performing well on selected safety evaluations, including tests that try to get the system to perform “illicit activities” and search for “sensitive personal data.” Reportedly, safety testing is among the reasons for Operator’s long development cycle. In a recent X post, OpenAI co-founder Wojciech Zaremba criticized Anthropic for releasing an agent he claims lacks safety mitigations.
“I can only imagine the negative reactions if OpenAI made a similar release,” Zaremba wrote.
It’s worth noting that OpenAI has been criticized by AI researchers, including ex-staff, for allegedly de-emphasizing safety work in favor of quickly productizing its technology.
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